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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Rumor of Carl Edwards to the 22 car takes the cake as most ridiculous thing I've heard all year

A Carl Edwards win at Atlanta would seriously shake things up in the Chase; boosting him above the other contenders with one win.He said there is a sense of urgency on his part to win.“There is a real sense of urgency and I’ll say this, one thing about last season and 2008 was a good example, and last season was a good example, as two different ways to approach a championship run. In 2008, I made some mistakes and our team didn’t perform as well as we should have in the Chase, and then last season when all the pressure was on and it felt like the weight of the world focused on us, and all this pressure, we performed nearly perfectly. We didn’t slip up. We took what was given to us. We didn’t lose our cool, and I think that was a good exercise to go through, so I have a lot of faith in myself and my team, and even Chad – as little as I know about him – he’s a calm guy and if we can do it, we’ll do it and that’s all you can do.”

He also addressed a strange rumor which really makes no sense -- that he would possibly drive the #22 car for Roger Penske next year. That’s crazy talk to me; why would that even be a desirable option, even if you forget that Carl just signed a brand new Roush deal. And do you think Jack would really let him leave after all that fighting to keep him last year?

Regardless of how crazy the rumor was, Edwards made sure everyone Wednesday that everyone knows that it was bunk.“I want to say one other thing to clear the air. I guess no one has asked me specifically about it, but I guess there’s a lot of talk about me driving the 22 car next year,” he said. “I just want everybody on the call with the media to know that’s impossible. First of all, I haven’t ever discussed that with anyone at Penske, and, two, I’m contracted to drive the 99 car, which I’m very excited about, next season, so that’s what’s happening in case anyone wants to know. I wouldn’t mention it, except for it’s gotten bad enough that our sponsors and folks are asking me about it, so I’m trying to address that now and make sure you guys know I’ll be driving the 99 car next year for sure.”

Asked a related question about the rumor, Edwards reiterated: “I will be driving the 99 Fastenal Ford next year. I’m glad to be driving that car and I’ve never explored the option of driving the 22 car, so that’s why it took me so long to mention that to you guys because I thought it was so silly that I can’t believe it has traction, but I guess it has. Does that satisfy you guys? Is there any other part I haven’t addressed?”

Seriously, who was smoking something when they came up with that rumor? There's no logical way you could think it could happen.

Anyway, getting back to the wild card fight, Edwards said that despite not being locked in yet, he is happy with how he’s performed so far this year and has few regrets.

“I feel like I’ve done my best. I’ve made a couple mistakes that I try to look at every race when it’s over, whether I’ve won or lost, there have been races I’ve won that I really screwed some things up and I know I got away with it, and I always try to be honest with myself and say, ‘Hey, I messed up here. I did really well here.’ And there have been a few instances this year where I’ve made mistakes that I’d like to have back, but, overall, I feel like I’ve done the best job I could do and I think my crew and Bob and Chad and Jack and everyone feels like they’ve done the best they could do. Right now, I can look back over the season and I can look at 90 or 100 points that luck just took from us and that’s racing. If we were a little faster, we’d be in the Chase without needing that luck, but, as it stands right now, the way we are we needed things to go a different way to be in a better spot right now, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” Edwards said.

Roush notes— Greg Biffle leads the Roush Fenway championship hunt by 11 points in the Sprint Cup standings. Matt Kenseth is fourth and Carl Edwards is 12th. Ricky Stenhouse is second in the NNS point standings trailing by 19 points.— All but one of Roush Fenway’s Sprint Cup wins at AMS came in the fall, with Carl Edwards claiming the only spring win at Atlanta in 2005. Conversely, all but two of Roush Fenway’s six Nationwide wins came in the spring. NASCAR races only once in Atlanta this season.— Roush Fenway competed in its first NASCAR event at AMS on March 20, 1988, finishing 31st after getting involved in an early crash. However just three years later the organization claimed its first win there in the fall of ‘91 with the No. 6 Ford. Roush Fenway won its first of six Nationwide wins at the track in the spring of ’97. Roush Fenway’s top outing at AMS came in the fall of 2005, when the organization placed four cars inside the top seven, with three cars finishing top five including race winner Carl Edwards. In fact in the two races at AMS in 2005, Roush Fenway posted six top-five finishes and two wins.— Roush Fenway’s Carl Edwards is one of the most successful drivers in AMS history and the organization’s most successful driver there. He earned his first Cup win there in the spring of ’05, sweeping both the NNS and Cup races. He went on to sweep both the Cup events at AMS in ’05 and added another Cup win at the track in the fall of ’08 and a NNS win in 2011.

About Me

Matt Myftiu is news editor at The Oakland Press and has been working at the Press for the past nine years. He knows a ridiculous amount about both NASCAR and technology, and will share his wisdom on those topics with you via his Beyond the Track and Tech Time blogs.
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He can be reached via email at matt.myftiu@oakpress.com.